How important is World Lore for your comic?

[Wumbl]

My work is literally 50-60% lore. Serves me right for creating a fixed universe for all my work.

I mean I find it really helps me, since before I committed to the Jahanniverse I could never build a convincing or compelling story. I feel that this kind of thing is the best for me... I'm a huge workaholic when it comes to my fiction so I'm always thinking about it and building on it.

Hell, 70% of background characters I draw in scenes actually are characters in other stories I'm working on. I feel that the idea of spotting characters in my old work would be really fun and exciting for my readers... It's like "Wow, look! a couple of years ago in Flirting With Death you can see these Molara's Arms characters in the background!!" It's something I really enjoy seeing in others' work so...

I also have specific recognisable brands that I like to scatter around - a clothing company called Fun Police, some bands that even have named members (some members have stories as well) like Bad Puritans, Richboyze and The Squits. There's a company called EpsilonTECH and sometimes I just slip in character stickers and stuff to populate the scene.

I love having a lot of lore in my stories because I feel it makes my world more believable. Some stories benefit from less intense worldbuilding but since my universe is so damn out there it's kind of necessary. You can't really write an extended universe with angels, demons, witches and superhumans without putting in the legwork and research.

[ahkwardkat]

My story is heavily dependent on Lore. However I dont info dump about it except at certain times decided by the characters. Since mine involves gods, spirits, magic and has history of the island involved, referring to it often is a thing. You gotta time it right and do it in a way it doesn't overload. I try to use the backgrounds as hints to help too. ouo

[KrispyKremeBits]

Creating a ton of lore for your comic is super important if that's the kinda comic you want. Is it a character driven story or a plot driven story? It's important to think about this when writing your comic. You could have a boring world but amazing characters that drive the story, with a world for only there to show off the characters or you could have a mix of both. An interesting world to show off your amazing characters, a world filled with wonders for your characters to use! You could publish them in public if you like, it's all up to you!

[Draconic]

Your characters are more important than Lore. Lore should be as simple as possible.

People will love your story no matter how full of plot hole and ridiculous your world are, as long as you're doing good at your character building.

[inkythoughts]

Funny thing because I'm currently gathering all my lore for my comics, too haha

In general, I'd say refrain from long expositions etc. Have your world-building play out naturally. If there are certain customs (e.g. in my world it's simply tradition to light a lantern at your front porch so that the workers find their way back home/the streets are lit at night, and to introduce that little bit I'll just have a grandma tell one of her grandchildren not to forget to light the lantern, yadda yadda), show them. If you have poetry written for your world, let characters read it to each other in their sparetime. If there's specific food, you can show how it's made. If there are ghost stories or legends and myths, have a group of campers tell them at the campfire to scare each other.
Just think about how very ordinary things work in our world, and apply the same semantics to hwo you present the lore in your story! It's usually the small hints of normalcy that make lore so charming, so treat it like that. The important thing is that you know the meaning behind actions, you don't need to spell it out 100% for your readership. Also, people love to make their own theories and come to their own conclusions, so there's that.

IMO, the more you know about your world, the better because it can prevent you from contradictions and plot (world-building?) holes, just don't forget that you also got a story to write, too.

[djwaglmuffin]

Lore is very important in my story, even if my audience isn't seeing the machinations behind the curtain. And lore can cover anything in the overall scope of world building because everything, technically, HAS a reason for its existence even it's not immediately understood by the audience.

Even in themes like fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural/occult, some people may not realize they're thinking about it when they are. Harry Potter is a good example...people are able to bend the physics of their world for a desired outcome and we're not sure HOW they do it, but the rules of that universe dictate that it can happen. Stories can also feel more like an instruction manual in how to live there instead of the development of the people in those universes so I totally understand why people approach world building and lore like this as a sort of "meh" thing.

But then continuing with the HP example, JK Rowling gives enough information into the background of a thing to keep it relevant to the plot at that moment. The Nicholas Flammel arc, for example. We never officially meet the man, but we know it was his invention that was pivotal in the villains plan in book one.

So, for example, if you have a sacred and dangerous object your characters must find, they're going to naturally ask questions (with a few exceptions). The thief/merc archetype may not ask questions because the price may be right but then, you, as their creator, can force them to confront the lore and learn as they go ("should have done some more research, eh'?") So, yeah...lore is important as long as it has a presence/impact on the current plot of the story.

But like I said in the beginning, you could also be thinking of so much that dictates your characters thoughts and actions that pertain to lore or, rather, has roots IN lore. Religion and dogmatic points of view are a good example of how thousand+year old texts can still have impact on our present day to day.

Anyway, I could probably keep babbling. Please do forgive. xD

[Oksa]

Don't ever dumb the info to readers. especially when you start your comic. I hate prologues with tons and tons of text, because I haven't found the hook to the story yet, if you know what I'm saying X'D
I think it's the best to introduce and show the main characters first, show what kind of characters they are, and THEN you can use world lore. just need to remember that you show it to readers, not only tell.

Honestly, this is just my opinion, I feel like I know shit about storytelling, even tho I have made comics my whole life X'D My own story is full of world lore, but I show about 40-50% of it to readers, since most of it is not important to the plot. It helps to have the info to myself tho, keeps every scene loyal to my world I've build.

[ChanYE]

thats an interesting perspective!

i always thought lores something i can stretch my creative legs with. also good lore might land your comic on one of those comic theory youtube channels

[octafg64]

Whats the fun of a toon without an interesting lore to explore? I mean personally i think its where the charm lies after all.